India Mahdavi shares her travel, style and design wish list
The design luminary who has created the immersive scenography for the NGV’s latest exhibition Pierre Bonnard, shares her covetable and collectable favourites.
Favourite up-and-coming artist?
Marcella Barceló – the daughter of Miguel. I love her fairytale characters and wonderful world.
Exhibition you are most excited to see?
I would love to see the Johannes Vermeer exhibition at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, or David Hockney’s show at the Musée Granet in Aix-en-Provence. I just saw the Norman Foster exhibit at the Centre Pompidou in Paris that I encourage everyone to see – it’s endlessly rich.
Design luminary you would still like to meet?
Gaetano Pesce and Andrea Branzi – the kings of Italian design poetry.
Building you’d love to call home?
I am tempted to say Casa Malaparte [in Capri]. But I am so happy in my own house in Arles – a family house I never had as I grew up.
Describe an ideal Sunday?
Walking on the beach of Camargue, the French bayou where I also own a house.
Travel destination on the top of your hit list?
I’ve been wanting to visit Tasmania for such a long time – and the famous MONA.
Hotel you’d like to experience next?
Satellite Island in Tasmania.
Interior find that you would most like to take home?
I always like to purchase objects from my travels – usually ceramic pieces – and they end up on a dinner table with friends from all over the world.
Wellness pursuit you are most keen to try?
Intermittent fasting twice a week.
Your optimal breakfast?
No breakfast, thank you. Only café.
Photograph you wish you took?
More photographs of my family.
Latest book on your reading pile?
Bomarzo – the incredible story of Pier Francesco Orsini, Prince of the Italian Renaissance. There’s so much that echoes the project I just completed at the Villa Medici in Rome.
TV show that excites you?
I really enjoyed the TV series En thérapie, with fantastic acting by Suzanne Lindon and Charlotte Gainsbourg, but also the famous White Lotus.
Favourite drink?
A glass of red wine – a Château Chasse-Spleen perhaps.
Personal style icon you wish you’d met?
Andrée Putman. Although I have met her, I would have loved to know her better. Or Miuccia Prada.
Next fashion purchase?
I don’t tend to plan purchases, I usually stumble upon pieces that I like – it’s more like whim shopping.
Where is your happy place?
My happy place is Siwa, in the Egyptian desert, where I have built a house – like a loft in the desert. It’s a modern space made from local materials and only has candlelight.
